Although Larry Page is still CEO of Google parent company Alphabet, Pichai has the incredibly important job of making sure that the company's core businesses and cash cow stay strong.

So who is Pichai and how did he scale the ranks to get one of the most important jobs at one of the most important companies in the world?

Here's his story:

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Pichai grew up in Chennai, India. His father was as an electrical engineer and his mother a stenographer before having him and his younger brother. The family wasn't wealthy, and the boys slept together in the living room of their two-room apartment.

Early on, Pichai had a talent for remembering numbers, which his family realized when he could recall every phone number he had ever dialed on their rotary phone. He will still sometimes show off his memorization skills at meetings, to colleagues' awe.

After becoming interested in computers — the first software program he wrote was a chess game — Pichai studied metallurgical engineering at the Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur. His success there won him a scholarship to Stanford.

Moving to California was a huge leap. "I always loved technology and while growing up I had dreams of Silicon Valley," Pichai said in a recent interview. "I used to read about it, hear stories from my uncle."

At Stanford, Pichai earned his MS and then attended the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School for his MBA. Before Google, he had stints at Applied Materials and consulting firm McKinsey & Co.

He interviewed at the Googleplex on April Fools' Day in 2004 — the same day the company launched Gmail. Everyone, Pichai included, initially thought that the free email service was one of Google's infamous pranks. He started working on Google's search toolbar.

That product ended up being important in 2006, when Microsoft created a "Doomsday" scenario for Google by making Bing the new default search engine on Internet Explorer. Pichai helped convince computer manufacturers to preinstall the Toolbar on their hardware to mitigate the effect of this change.

That problem led him to one of his other biggest early achievements: convincing cofounders Larry Page and Sergey Brin that Google should build its own browser. The result, Chrome, is now the most used option out there.

As a leader, Pichai was always well-liked and more focused on results instead of standing out. That "substance over overt style" attitude attracted attention, though, and he started getting more responsibility.

We've been told that he could often act as Larry Page's "interpreter" — understanding Page's vision and then helping to communicate it to other teams.

That knack and his success with Chrome, Apps, and Android led to his next important promotion in late 2014, when Page put him in charge of almost all of the company's product areas, including search, maps, Google+, commerce and ads, and infrastructure. He essentially became Page's second in command.

Page respects Pichai. "Sundar has a tremendous ability to see what's ahead and mobilize teams around the super important stuff," he wrote in a memo announcing Pichai's promotion. "We very much see eye-to-eye when it comes to product, which makes him the perfect fit for this role."

Justin Sullivan/Getty

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When the company blew up its corporate structure almost a year later, it was no surprise that Pichai got tapped to lead Google, since he was responsible for its core products.

AP

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Although he's private, Pichai is willing to speak out about certain causes that he believes in. Following some of Donald Trump's comments about immigration, he wrote a public post expressing his views: "Let's not let fear defeat our values. We must support Muslim and other minority communities in the US and around the world."

And although Pichai doesn't use Instagram and rarely tweets, he has been a pretty active Google+ poster over the years, which gives us a little more insight into his personality.

Google+

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His posts mostly highlight various Chrome rollouts, but they also reveal that he admires people like Nelson Mandela, Anthony Shadid, Dennis Ritchie, Wangari Maathai, John McCarthy, and Aaron Swartz.

Mike Hutching / Reuters

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We also know that he loves cricket ...

Google

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... and the game Flappy Bird. Here he is meeting with creator Dong Nguyen.

Google

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In his home country, Pichai is seen as something of a hero. "You've done what everyone has dreamed of doing," interviewer Harsha Bhogle said while Pichai did a Q&A session with students at a Delhi University.

Here he is meeting with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Google

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Throughout his meteoric rise, he's remained incredibly humble: "It is always good to work with people who make you feel insecure about yourself. That way, you will constantly keep pushing your limits."